Jennifer Kesse has been missing since Jan. 24, 2006, when she failed to show up to her Orlando-area job as a financial analyst. A new podcast, 'Unconcluded,' is shedding new light on the decade-old case.(Photo: Courtesy Kesse family)

ORLANDO – The disappearance of 24-year-old Jennifer Kesse has vexed investigators, friends and family members since she vanished from her Orlando condo more than 11 years ago.

The case so intrigued Shaun Gurd, a Tampa-area elementary teacher who heard about it from his wife, that he recently decided to start a podcast, along with friend Scott Jamison, looking into the details of the disappearance.

When it launched earlier this year, the podcast, Unconcluded, drew around 15,000 downloads. Today, it’s garnering more than 300,000 a month – and growing – and has led to a half-dozen credible leads.

Unconcluded is the latest in a series of true-crime podcasts that have exploded onto the podcast scene, drawing millions of listeners and spawning parallel investigations into often decades-old criminal cases.

One of the first and most popular, Serial, began in 2014 with a look into the 1999 murder of an 18-year-old Baltimore high school student. It was an instant cultural phenomenon, becoming the fastest podcast to reach 5 million downloads in iTunes history.

Others followed, including In the Dark, which explored the 1989 abduction and murder of an 11-year-old boy, and Undisclosed, which investigates wrongful convictions, along with a slew of others with names like True Crime Garage and Someone Knows Something.

The podcasts often revolve around older cases and stimulate public involvement in solving crimes in ways not seen before, said Stephen Holmes, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida, who has studied the Kesse case.

Besides reviving forgotten cases, the podcasts also often embolden witnesses who may have been hesitant to speak up immediately after the initial crime, he said. And anyone with a decent microphone and Internet access could start one.

“We really haven’t seen the general public involved in this type of cold case exploration before these podcasts,” he said. “It’s a new phenomenon.”

Gurd, who teaches 5th grade math and science, had only listened to three podcasts – all of them of the true-crime variety – before deciding to start Unconcluded. After hearing about the case from his wife last year, Gurd said he couldn’t stop thinking about Kesse’s disappearance. In April, he bought a $100 USB microphone from Amazon.com that connects directly to his laptop, downloaded audio software and started the podcast from the guestroom of his home. Google searches taught him how to edit audio and submit the episodes to iTunes.

“It’s been learn as we go,” he said. "We're still figuring it out."

The fact that Gurd lived just an hour’s drive from Orlando and he hadn’t heard of Kesse’s case motivated him to start the podcast and raise awareness, he said. Overall, he's spent about $1,000 of his own money on the podcast, which does not generate revenue, and usually records the broadcasts at night, after his 11-month-old daughter has been put to bed.

So far, Gurd and Jamison have produced six episodes and several other smaller broadcasts. “We’re trying to stir up interest in something that was trying to die off," he said. "She’s still someone’s daughter and someone's sister. And no one knows where she is."

Kesse was reported missing on Jan. 24, 2006, after failing to show up to her job as a financial analyst. She had a successful career, boyfriend and plush condo. Police later found her car parked at another condominium complex a mile away and grainy surveillance video captured the image of a person leaving the car and walking way. Orlando Police detectives have not been able to find a suspect, but they do think Kesse was abducted.

Armed with headphones, a mic and a laptop, Shaun Gurd has started a podcast, Unconcluded, that rexamines the 11-year-old disappearance of Jennifer Kesse from Orlando.(Photo: Rick Jervis)

Drew Kesse, Kesse’s father, said he didn’t expect much when he heard Gurd was launching a podcast about his daughter’s disappearance. Since that day in 2006, he has been contacted by scores of people and private investigators offering to help solve the case, only to be led down wrong paths or given misleading tips. His Facebook page at one point had more than 10,000 followers, but he shut it down when his family began receiving death threats, extortion claims and other sordid proposals, he said.

Unconcluded has reawakened the case and garnered more attention than Drew Kesse ever imagined, without having to reinsert himself into the emotionally draining world of the investigation, he said.

“(Gurd) has brought this back to light in a way I can’t,” Drew Kesse said. “He’s garnering a bigger and bigger audience every single week, and that’s what she needs.”

The podcast has also pointed out deficiencies in the investigation headed by Orlando Police. In his podcast, Gurd interviews a woman who claims she saw someone who looks like Jennifer Kesse in the Tennessee jewelry store where she worked in the months after she went missing. The woman said she reported the sighting to the Central Florida Crimeline number but never heard back from detectives – until she appeared on Unconcluded.

Orlando Police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said detectives on the case have vetted more than 150 tips on the Jennifer Kesse case that have come in through the Crimeline number and have been in nearly weekly contact with the family. After the Tennessee jewelry store worker episode, police officials instructed dispatchers to route any callers wishing to speak to a detective on the Jennifer Kesse, or any other missing persons, case directly to the investigator in charge, she said.

Detectives are listening to the podcast, Guido said. “We rely on tips and information from the public in solving many crimes, so we always want to hear any tips anyone may have,” she said.

Drew Kesse said he doesn’t expect to see his daughter alive again. But he wants closure in the case, in any form that may take. “Jennifer needs to come home,” he said. “I will take her anyway I can get her.”

Gurd is currently working 25 to 30 hours a week on the podcast and its investigation, he said. When his classes begin again in the fall, he’ll limit that work to nights and weekends.

But he plans to continue broadcasting clues and theories in the Jennifer Kesse case for as long as it takes, he said. “We don’t plan on stopping anytime soon,” Gurd said.

Anyone with information on this case can call the Orlando Police Department at 321-235-5300 if they wish to speak to a detective, or the Central Florida Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS, if they wish to remain anonymous.

The Unconcluded podcast can be found on iTunes, or at unconcluded.com.

Jervis is a national correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow him on Twitter at: @MrRJervis.